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MORIAL ccording to USA Today, the nation's big-city mayors picked a "seasoned battler" when they elected Ernest ! ^ ^ ^ ™ N. Dutch Morial to the presidency of the United States Conference of Mayors. To many familiar with Louisiana politics - and Alpha politics - that characterization certainly didn't come as a surprise. Morial was elected Mayor of the City of New Orleans in 1977 and on May 1, 1978 he took office as the first Black Mayor in the history of that city. On March 20, 1982, the voters of New Orleans returned Dutch Morial for a second term. His popularity in the Crescent City remains high, so much so that supporters are now petitioning for a charter change which would allow him to serve an unprecedented third term. The mayor's reputation as a "fighter" stems in part from a series of firsts he has achieved during his lifetime. In 1965-67, he was the first Black U. S. Attorney in the State of Louisiana; 1967-70, the first Black to serve in the State Legislature since Reconstruction; 1973-77, the first Black elected to the Louisiana 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. With Brother A. P. Tureaud, a noted civil rights lawyer, Morial successfully entered suits to eliminate segregation in New Orleans and Louisiana. When state law prohibited teachers from holding membership in civil rights organizations, he successfully challenged the law under the 1st Amendment, his wife Sybil being the sole plaintiff. As Morial settles in the presidency of USCM, an organization of mayors representing cities of 30,000 and more, that image of a politician relishing "combat" has been replaced by that of a statesman seeking "consensus." The new Morial is already winning high praise from his fellow mayors and generating an almost comic sense of bewilderment from the New Orleans press corps (accustomed to "fighting Dutch").
A
SHtlino in as I'residenl ol Ihe I niled Males Ciinlerenrr of Mayors. Ilutrh Morial has shed his mmbalite image lo emerge as a solid and iiinsiieniious leader of Imeriia's big-rih mayors. His fellow mators. Hipublican and llemiiiralii alike, praise him — tthile Ihe \ n Orleans press corps ttonders yyhal mirar le has been urnughl in "Iheir" llulrh.
continued
The Sphinx/Spring 1985
on page 16
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